Kinked mouse tailKATRINA CABALTERA, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
N. Kondrashov et al., “Ribosome-mediated specificity in Hox mRNA translation and vertebrate tissue patterning,” Cell, 145:383-97, 2011. Free F1000 Evaluation
The ribosome was thought to treat all messenger RNAs the same, connecting coded peptides into a protein chain like a mindless machine. However, Maria Barna, a developmental biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues found that a deletion in one ribosomal protein was responsible for skeletal abnormalities, such as kinked tails and extra ribs, in a line of mice called Ts for “tail short.” The ribosomal mutation caused decreased translation in eight of the 39 murine Hox genes, and suggests that ribosomes can regulate gene expression.
Barna screened the Ts mice for genetic abnormalities. Rather than finding one in Hox genes, as ...
